You Want Papal Dope? We've Got Papal Dope....

Waking up from an afternoon siesta (for the business which invented the concept of "Sunday rest," Sundays are always big news days on the Vatican beat), I checked my counter and expected the usual ho-hum... ho-hum.

When it looked like the tracker was on the verge of exploding, I asked myself the immortal Italian question, "Good God. Did somebody die?" (Leave it to happen, of course, during one of my rare moments of sleep.)

But no, something much more fortuitous than that happened -- in the new parlance of Catholic liturgy, Andrew Sullivan deigned to pass these pages along, anointing this humble (and very poor) scribe in the process as the "Catholic Wonkette." (Which is deliciously ironic as I've always wanted to be Mr. Wonkette in the worst way.... And I'm not talkin' in terms of comparison, either.)

So welcome to all the Daily Dish readers dropping in. Prop up your feet, red wine's in the corner, have some incense, bio's on the right, feel free to drop the narrator a line -- just make yourself at home. As you would if you were, you know, in a nice little perch in Rome, watching the immortal spectacle of Games Washerwomen Play unfold ("Washerwomen" being one of the many names by which the clerical denizens and hangers-on of the Vatican scene are known).

And stop back anytime -- between the (almost-daily) papal fashion statements, documents and appointments which trickle out, there's always something on the Roman burners, and it usually happens to make good fodder for satire.

The countdown's on: Three days til the man formerly known as "Cardinal 'No'" talks about love.... Thanks again for dropping by and enjoy.

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